'''Ents''' were created at the request of [[Yavanna]] to guard the trees, and thus were called "Shepherds of the Trees".

+

−

+

−

As with ''[[Hobbit]]'', '''Ent''' is a term that in modern times is almost exclusively connected with [[J.R.R. Tolkien]], and the usage of the term seldom evokes in people its earlier meanings.

+

−

+

−

==History==

+

−

===Creation===

+

−

Ents were a very old race that appeared in [[Middle-earth]] when the [[Elves]] did. They were created by [[Ilúvatar|Eru Ilúvatar]] at the behest of Yavanna, after she learned that [[Aulë]]'s children, the [[Dwarves]], were wont to fell trees. Ents were envisioned as Shepherds of the Trees and their duty was to protect the forests from [[Orcs]], Dwarves and other perils. The Elves had tales of teaching the trees to talk, and they also taught the Ents to talk. Although the Ents were sentient beings at the time, they did not know how to speak until the Elves taught them. [[Treebeard]] said the Elves "curing the Ents of their dumbness" was a great gift that could not be forgotten.

+

−

+

−

Ents were tree-like creatures, having become like the trees that they shepherded. They varied in traits, from everything to height and size, colouring, and the number of fingers and toes. An individual Ent more or less resembled the specific species of tree that they typically guarded. For example, [[Quickbeam]] guarded rowan trees and thus looked very much like a rowan. In the [[Third Age]] of Middle-earth, the [[Fangorn Forest|Forest of Fangorn]] was apparently the only place Ents still inhabited, although the Ent-like [[Huorns]] may still have survived elsewhere, as in the Old Forest.

+

−

+

−

=== Rise and Decline ===

+

−

[[Image:Luka Luka - Farewell to Fangorn.jpg|left|thumb|[[Entwives]] in ''Farewell to Fangorn'' by [[Luka Luka]].]]

+

−

Almost nothing is known of the early history of the Ents &#8212; they apparently lived in and protected the large forests of Middle-earth in previous ages. At the end of the [[First Age]] they were sumoned by [[Beren Erchamion|Beren]] and [[Lúthien Tinúviel|Lúthien]] to attack a band of dwarves. Treebeard told of a time when nearly all of [[Eriador]] was one huge forest and part of his domain, but these immense forests were cut by the [[Númenóreans]] of the Second Age, or destroyed in the calamitous War of the Elves and Sauron of the 17th century of the Second Age. Treebeard's statement is also supported by remarks [[Elrond]] Half-elven made at the Council of Elrond. Elrond said that "Time was once when a squirrel could carry a nut from tree to tree from Rivendell to the Great Sea...", further indicating that all of Eriador was once a single vast primeval forest, of which Fangorn Forest was just "the Eastern End of it" according to Treebeard.

+

−

+

−

There used to be ''[[Entwives]]'' (literally "Ent-women"), but they started to move farther away from the Ents because they liked to plant and control things, so they moved away to the region that would later become the [[Brown Lands]] across the Great River [[Anduin]]. This area was destroyed by [[Sauron]], and the Entwives disappeared. The Ents looked for them, but have never found them. It is sung by the Ents that one day they will find each other. In ''[[The Fellowship of the Ring]]'', Sam Gamgee says his cousin Hal saw treelike giant in the north of the Shire. When Pippin and Merry tell Treebeard about the Shire, Treebread says the entwives would like that land.

+

−

+

−

Treebeard boasted to Merry and Pippin about the strength of the Ents. He said that they were much more powerful than [[Trolls]], which [[Morgoth]] supposedly made as imitations of the Ents. He compares this with how [[Orcs]] were Morgoth's imitation of [[Elves]].

+

−

+

−

=== The March of the Ents ===

+

−

{{quote|The Ents are going to war!|[[Treebeard]]}}

+

−

During the [[War of the Ring]] the Ents&mdash;usually a very patient, deliberate people&mdash;did become angry at [[Saruman]], whose armies were cutting down large numbers of their trees. They convened an ''Entmoot'', a meeting of the Ents of [[Fangorn Forest]] at Derndingle.

After lengthy deliberation (though from the perspective of the Ents, this was very quick action), they marched on Saruman's fortress at [[Isengard]]: the last march of the Ents. They were led by Treebeard, the oldest Ent, and accompanied by the [[Hobbits]] [[Meriadoc Brandybuck]] and [[Peregrin Took]]. They destroyed Isengard in an all-out assault and trapped Saruman in the tower of [[Orthanc]]. Tolkien later noted that the destruction of Isengard by the Ents was based off of personal disappointment in MacBeth, when "Birnham Wood is come to castle Dunsinane". Tolkien was less than thrilled that it amounted to men walking on stage with leaves in their hats; he decided that when he did the scene for himself, he would do it correctly.

+

−

+

−

==Etymology==

+

−

The [[Sindarin]] name for Ents, as a race, is ''Onodrim'', and as individuals ''Onod'' (pl. ''Enyd'').

+

−

+

−

+

−

+

−

==Portrayal in Adaptions==

+

−

[[Image:Treebeard.jpeg|thumb|[[Treebeard]] from [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]].]]

+

−

'''2001-3: ''[[The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy]]'':'''

+

−

:Ents in [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]] were portrayed as, perhaps, more tree-ish than in the books (the books describe them as having smooth skin; the movie has them with skin like thick and rough bark. In the movie adaption, the Ents at the Entmoot decide that this is "not our war", despite strong protest from Merry. The scene is also shorter, cutting out [[Bregalad]] completely; Treebeard is the only Ent who is named and speaks on screen..

+

−

+

−

Treebeard is about to take them north to the border, when Pippin insists that they go South instead, because "''the closer we are to danger, the farther we are from harm''". This "does not make sense" to Treebeard, but he does as they ask, and sees the ruin and destruction that Saruman has wrought on southern Fangorn. Treebeard then calls the Ents to battle with his booming Ent-call, and they appear out of the forest as if they had been standing there waiting for it. That they do not know the borders of their own forest is another possible logical gap. But others have accepted Jackson's technique as valid, because of the seemingly minor actions of Merry and Pippin throughout The Two Towers.

+

−

+

−

==External links==

+

−

* [http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/birminghampost/news/tm_objectid=15530734&method=full&siteid=50002&headline=tolkien-statue-plan-splits-community-name_page.html Plan to construct a 25' Ent in Birmingham]